We start on February 6, where Butt rises in the House of Commons during Question Period to say he has personally witnessed what amounts to serious election fraud (my emphasis):
Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a bit about this vouching system again. I know the minister represents an urban city. I am from a semi-urban area of Mississauga, where there are many high-rise apartment buildings. On mail delivery day when the voter cards are delivered to community mailboxes in apartment buildings, many of them are discarded in the garbage can or the blue box. I have actually witnessed other people picking up the voter cards, going to the campaign office of whatever candidate they support and handing out these voter cards to other individuals, who then walk into voting stations with friends who vouch for them with no ID.
Then, a couple of hours later, also in the House of Commons, Butt rises again to say (my emphasis again):
I will relate to [the Minister of State] something I have actually seen. On the mail delivery day when voter cards are put in mailboxes, residents come home, pick them out of their boxes, and throw them in the garbage can. I have seen campaign workers follow, pick up a dozen of them afterward, and walk out. Why are they doing that? They are doing it so they can hand those cards to other people, who will then be vouched for at a voting booth and vote illegally. That is going to stop.
Whoop, not quite! Here’s Butt, again in the House of Commons, yesterday, putting all that toothpaste back in the tube (my emphasis once again):
Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order with respect to debate that took place on February 6 in this House regarding the fair elections act. I made a statement in the House during the debate that is not accurate. I just want to reflect the fact that I have not personally witnessed individuals retrieving voter notification cards from the garbage cans or from the mailbox areas of apartment buildings. I have not personally witnessed that activity and want the record to properly show that.
Then, this afternoon, Tuesday, Butt rose to apologize for misleading the House of Commons. Transcript to be published here later.
His first two comments were when he was trying to imply that the NDP & Liberals were at fault. When he later discovered that the offenders were from the extreme right-wing Reform/Conservative Party of Dictator Harper, he felt he had to distance himself a little bit.
A lie is a lie, this is not grade school. There has to be accountability